WORTH is an innovative, sustainable, replicable, and low-cost
program of women empowering women that fosters decentralized
development, increased income, and local control of resources.
As WORTH programs take root throughout Africa and Asia, there
are several key elements of the program that set it apart
and create the foundation for women’s continued success.
WORTH is based on the premise that dependency is
not empowering. Unlike many other development programs that provide participants
with capital and a variety of inputs needed for program
delivery, WORTH provides no seed money, no matching grants,
no subsidized
interest rates and no classroom teachers. Women learn that
if they want a brighter future, they must take responsibility
for their own development.
WORTH works through local NGOs and women's groups. WORTH
quickly reaches thousands of villages because it works
through women's
groups, churches and local NGOs that are often already
active in these communities. WORTH not only builds capacity
at the
grassroots level, but also strengthens the capacity of
local organizations and networks to implement and monitor
community-driven
programs effectively.
Savings-led microfinance links to, but does not depend
on, outside credit. Most of the world's famous micro-finance programs
for women start by providing credit. WORTH starts with literacy,
numeracy, savings and action-oriented learning. With basic
math and simple accounting skills the women are able to manage
a village bank with their own savings constituting the loan
capital, while becoming successful entrepreneurs. Women become
both the bankers and the borrowers as they increase their skills
and their capital.
WORTH addresses the key issues of the greatest development
challenge of our time- HIV/AIDS. Two of the fundamental reasons
HIV continues to plague communities, especially in sub-Saharan
Africa, are gender inequality and general impoverishment.
Through raising their incomes and gaining respect in
their families
and communities, women are better able to protect themselves
from the social factors that make them the most-at-risk group
for disease transmission. Strong and economically secure
communities are a pivotal intervention in alleviating
the long-term impact
of HIV/AIDS.
Women focus on success. Using an Appreciative Planning
and Action (APA) framework, WORTH women look at their
successes,
their strengths, and their remarkable capacities to cope
with adversity. Other programs focus on women's problems
and the
obstacles they must overcome. WORTH has discovered that
if women look for problems, they find and create more
problems;
if they look for success, they find and create more success.
Networking facilitates sharing knowledge and building
bonds. Monthly training workshops bring women together in groups of
20 from clusters of 10 groups, providing an important forum
for problem solving, sharing, and interaction. As women tell
their success stories to one another, they are sharing new
ideas that have actually worked. The ties formed sustain the
individual groups and create dynamic networks for economic,
political and social action.
Replication through community engagement. Because WORTH
places primary responsibility for program success on the
women, it
can reach large scale in a short time. The core elements of
WORTH – the group, savings and credit leading to income
generation, the program’s emphasis on developing self-reliance
and independence from the outset – together constitute
fertile ground for group replication without outside support.
By contributing to Pact’s WORTH program, you will
support a movement that lends dignity, hope and pride to
women’s
attempts to better their lives and the lives of their families.
All contributions are tax-deductible. Checks should be made
out to “Pact/WORTH” and sent to:
Pact
1200 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Contributions can be made electronically by logging on
to Pact’s
website: www.pactworld.org
